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For other inquiries, email contact@ensia.com You can paste it directly into the WYSIWYG editor of your site February 11, 2020 — Around the world, more than 2 billion hectares (nearly 5 billion acres) of land — an area larger than Russia — are degraded Degradation can take many forms: clearing of forests soil erosion or the decline of nutrients in the soil all of which result in less productive land The loss of soil fertility is dragging down agricultural yields especially for poor farmers who cannot invest in fertilizers to replace the natural nutrients that are washed away when soil erodes soil fertility fell in marginal areas surrounding the Sahara Desert in Africa as people cut trees to make room for agriculture this dry region experienced severe droughts An estimated one million people died in Ethiopia alone As worldwide attentiveness waned, a practice known as farmer managed natural regeneration — FMNR — took root in the sands Farmers saw that trees and bushes could protect fields from harsh winds that blew crop seeds away Trees that captured nitrogen from the air allowed soils to regenerate and become more productive Fields where vegetation remained were producing much more than areas that had been entirely cleared Extension agent Ibrahim Yahaya demonstrates how to practice FMNR Photo courtesy of Tony Rinaudo | World Vision Australia FMNR takes advantage of the “underground forest”: existing roots stumps and seeds that can sprout into full-grown trees if protected and managed “What is key is the availability of seeds underground and stumps,” says Irene Ojuok national technical specialist for environment and climate change at World Vision “In places where there is availability of seeds or stumps any place that previously [was] with trees and was cleared It’s important to protect early growth from livestock and other damage Pruning and coppicing can then accelerate regrowth FMNR benefits from indigenous knowledge around tree management “There’s nothing new about [FMNR]. It’s a traditional method of coppicing that has existed for centuries,” says Tony Rinaudo, principal natural resource advisor for World Vision Australia Soon FMNR is going to get a big boost, with the Grand African Savannah Green Up project set to invest US$85 million in FMNR. What’s more, a new Trillion Trees initiative launched at Davos has enormous goals for reforesting landscapes With big money going to FMNR and the big expectations that come along with that investment it’s important to understand what FMNR is and when and where it might be a good choice for working with about 5 million hectares (12.3 million acres) of degraded Sahel landscapes have seen an increase in the number of trees Tree type varies depending on the local ecology and people’s preferences but includes species like Faidherbia albida “It’s estimated that farmers are growing an additional 500,000 metric tons (550,000 tons) of grain a year through FMNR [in Niger] The gross income is increased by about US$900 million per year without inputs or subsidies,” says Rinaudo That additional production enabled by FMNR supplies grain to 2.5 million people The regrowth of trees also means that firewood is much more easily available. “Women used to have to walk two and a half hours to collect firewood. Now they walk half an hour because they can prune on-farm trees,” says Chris Reij, senior fellow specialized in agroforestry and restoration at the research nonprofit World Resources Institute Spending less time collecting firewood creates opportunities women have used the extra time to create household businesses around raising chickens and other ways of creating income Depending on the context, FMNR offers many other benefits: “It’s the supermarket and the hardware store,” says Rinaudo Water sources are replenished as water infiltrates the soil rather than immediately running off Trees managed through FMNR produce goods that can be sold in markets such as the leaves of the baobab tree or resin seed pods and even bark that is used as fodder for livestock which is especially important in areas where climate change-driven drought has decimated people’s herds And by bringing back trees into agricultural landscapes and boosting soil fertility FMNR can also provide improved habitat for threatened species Furthermore, compared with planting trees, FMNR is low cost since it relies on existing stumps and seeds in the soil rather than seedlings produced in nurseries Both Rinaudo and Reij say that tree planting in harsh conditions has a high failure rate Rinaudo first became interested in FMNR while he was working on a replanting project in Niger where he says 85% to 90% of seedlings were dying In addition to the local benefits, FMNR sequesters carbon dioxide in trees and in the soil Given the large amount of degraded land around the world there is great potential to scale FMNR as a climate change solution Farmers have to be convinced that FMNR will work for them “[FMNR] has to be connected with another issue that matters to farmers: protecting a water source honey production or another livelihood component,” says Assefa Tofu dryland development program manager at World Vision Ethiopia which could involve temporarily restricting livestock from grazing Farmers will only give this up if they believe in the long-term benefit of FMNR Although FMNR is showing green shoots of success in many countries old stumps or other natural means of regeneration while in drier regions indigenous trees tend to be best adapted to the difficult local conditions Be the first to hear about important new environmental stories Legal and social systems are also critical Land management and especially tree-cutting must be somehow regulated or managed; there is no sense in protecting a tree on your land if a neighbor might come in and cut it “The legal system and ownership are very important,” says Tofu 1 thing [I] ask from the community is to protect land from livestock and to stop them from destroying new growth as they need to understand [we] are coming to help In some countries where FMNR is ecologically important weak governments make it difficult to provide the legal basis to protect trees associations and village-level governance have had to fill this gap developing mechanisms to manage tree cutting and enforcing punishment when individuals violate the law but supporting institutions didn’t take hold Ethiopia shows how much a farmer-managed tree has grown just 18 months after it was thinned and pruned FMNR has spread to at least two dozen countries social hierarchies have held back the practice in India the caste system means that the people who would benefit most from FMNR don’t own the land Landowners are more interested in maintaining their control over resources and place in the social hierarchy climate change is accelerating and … agricultural lands are degraded scalable restoration methods,” says Rinaudo “Restoration has to do with two things: biodiversity and equity — equity in the sense that regreening should benefit smallholder farmers,” says Reij “The big push should be mobilizing millions of smallholder farmers to invest in trees themselves we cannot win the battle against land degradation.” Ensia shares solutions-focused stories free of charge through our online magazine and partner media That means audiences around the world have ready access to stories that can — and do — help them shape a better future Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Sign up now for our bi-weekly newsletter and you'll get the latest stories from Ensia delivered straight to your inbox Submit your Expression of Interest to attend the Global Landscapes Forum NYC 2019 on 28 September in New York City “We have to conserve what is left – stop the bleeding – but also give patient Earth … a blood transfusion.” UN Environment will work with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) to lead the implementation of the Decade The ministry alongside former head of UN Environment Erik Solheim continued to push for the Decade at another GLF event in Nairobi in August a direct prelude to the Decade’s proposal being made public in September at the UN General Assembly in New York Land degradation is estimated to cost the global economy between USD 2 and 4.5 trillion each year while economic benefits of restoration efforts could annually reach an estimated USD 84 billion At least 7 million hectares of tropical forest landscapes are cleared and degraded each year “It is a great opportunity to build momentum and political will awareness and technical capacity at all levels,” said Christophersen “And I think we are ready because there is such a broad movement on restoration existing that has many years of experience the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative which aims to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land under restoration by 2030 Restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 could generate USD 9 trillion in ecosystem services and remove an additional 13 to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere This is critical for livelihoods and human wellbeing “Our global food systems and the livelihoods of many millions of people depend on all of us working together to restore healthy and sustainable ecosystems for today and the future.” Ecosystem restoration is fundamental to achieving the SDGs, particularly on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water and biodiversity conservation. It is also a pillar of international environmental conventions, including the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the three Rio Conventions on biodiversity in some way … are prepared to make a giant leap in restoration,” Lina Pohl El Salvador’s minister of the environment and natural resources said last year at the time of the Brazil event “We believe that it cannot be (achieved in only) one year It should really be a coordinated effort over a decade.”  Our mission is to make them freely accessible to everyone We believe that lasting and impactful change starts with changing the way people think That’s why we amplify the diverse voices the world needs to hear – from local restoration leaders to Indigenous communities and women who lead the way not only are you supporting the world’s largest knowledge-led platform devoted to sustainable and inclusive landscapes but you’re also becoming a vital part of a global movement that’s working tirelessly to create a healthier world for us all Every donation counts – no matter the amount The Trump administration is shutting down USAID Here’s what that means for environmental projects and the future of climate finance Follow our daily live updates from the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku Looking at the future of cocoa in the contexts of biodiversity conservation and globalization in the ancient Asante Kingdom of Ghana ThinkLandscape is a multimedia platform bringing you original knowledge-backed news and feature stories about climate and landscape solutions from around the world Andrew Scott: Keep asking them questions Andrew Scott: We've been over this all before Andrew Scott: I'm just gonna do something here... [Scott moves to kill the children and Luc attacks] Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb Join us for Vanguard Philadelphia! Application deadline extended Op-Ed: What other cities can learn from the publicly owned corporation driving the revitalization of Denmark's urban jewel   June 23 This is your first of three free stories this month Become a free or sustaining member to read unlimited articles the city of Copenhagen was experiencing 17.5 percent unemployment and an annual budget deficit of $750 million the city has been transformed into one of the wealthiest (and happiest) in the world the genesis of the Copenhagen model was a product of crisis put it as follows: “We knew the city was in a desperate situation and we needed to [make large-scale infrastructure investments] to address this situation to pay for the grand infrastructure project we needed serious money we needed agility and flexibility to operate.” The solution: transfer vast amounts of public land to a new publicly owned Rezone the land — primarily in the old harbor and an undeveloped area between the airport and the downtown — for residential and commercial use Then use the revenues projected by smart zoning and asset management — not taxes — to finance cross-city transit infrastructure thereby spurring the regeneration of core areas of the city The results of this institutional model have been nothing short of transformative Thousands of housing units built for market and social purposes in accordance with energy-efficient standards The most recent effects of this smart institutional model can be seen in the ongoing transformation of North Harbor (Nordhavn) only one of multiple sites under the corporation’s control The North Harbor project is essentially building a new city within the city in a dense the entire North Harbor area will include residential commercial and office space and the capacity to accommodate 40,000 inhabitants and 40,000 workers The North Harbor district is partly built on surplus soil pulled up from the underground during the metro construction The amount of soil deposited has been so substantial that it has actually raised the level of the new land by a meter as protection against climate change and rising sea levels Buildings in the North Harbor must conform to Copenhagen’s larger ambition of becoming the first capital city to be carbon neutral by 2025 Developers must adhere not only to national and local standards for energy consumption but also ensure that materials are sourced locally and the construction process is conducted properly in terms of reduced accidents and suitable working conditions (lighting Local law also requires that at least 25 percent of the housing in new city districts is set aside as social housing for lower-income residents The North Harbor project finances both the redevelopment of the North Harbor itself and the continued expansion of the city’s metro system CPH City & Port Development has created a smart profit-sharing mechanism: The corporation receives part of the property value increase generated by the introduction of a metro station the public realizes a portion of the value that it creates through the introduction of a transit system rather than allow it to be realized exclusively by private owners The Copenhagen model works because the public sector participates for the long term reaping enormous benefits as value naturally appreciates from smart public investments It combines the efficiency of market discipline and mechanisms with the benefits of public direction It is clear that adapting the model to cities in the United States and around the world would be enormously beneficial is shifting the location of its port and pursuing an ambitious redevelopment of its waterfront an undertaking that is directly analogous to Copenhagen’s North Harbor project is experiencing severe fiscal distress that could be alleviated by using the disposition of strategically located public assets to spur residential and business growth (and tax revenue) along its waterfront Pittsburgh is undergoing the most dramatic revitalization in decades (primarily near its world-class research institutions Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh) which could be further accelerated by the smart management and disposition of public land and buildings The housing affordability crises of expensive cities like Boston and San Francisco could be mitigated by leveraging public assets to capitalize housing trust funds Adapting the Copenhagen model to the United States will require cities to overcome a series of institutional and operational barriers we generally know what cities owe (due to massive pension liabilities) but not what they own There is absolutely no excuse for this lack of transparency and market knowledge in the age of technological innovations like geospatial mapping and big data analytics cities are often developing for the short rather than long term cities is often undertaken to fill immediate budget deficits rather than finance long-term regeneration and infrastructure The immediate budget needs of local government are exacerbated by the similar short-term orientation of financial institutions like commercial banks and pension funds cities is actually quite large but highly fragmented and balkanized A blizzard of public institutions — airport authorities school boards — co-own large amounts of the city but rarely align their management of assets for the broader good initially established to ensure political insulation are ironically riddled with political interference the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey being only the most well-known example Changing the culture and behavior of public authorities is as important as corporate or statutory issues of institutional merger and powers In the face of a radically changed economy our cities need to upgrade outdated transportation and energy infrastructure and revitalize underutilized industrial and waterfront areas Support from the federal and state governments at the right scale and in the appropriate form is highly unlikely And exclusive reliance on the private sector is a fool’s errand because it will prevent the public sector from enjoying the fruits of public assets The upshot of the Copenhagen story is that smart city institutions matters as much as innovative urban techniques and tactics govern and finance our cities that will require a burst of institutional and operational innovation not seen in decades There is something replicable in Denmark and we need to pay close attention please consider supporting Next City’s work as a nonprofit newsroom Your donation ensures our journalists can report on how cities—especially in uncertain times—are leading the way with innovative solutions helps us keep this coverage free for everyone who needs it Bruce Katz is the inaugural Centennial Scholar at the Brookings Institution where he focuses on the challenges and opportunities of global urbanization and a board member of Next City. Luise Noring is an assistant professor at Copenhagen Business School and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.  Tags: urban planning, copenhagen View all → and support the spread of solutions that liberate cities Become a free or sustaining member to continue reading Or you can join for free—because we never want to create a financial barrier to information about fostering greater equity U.S. donations are tax-deductible minus the value of thank-you gifts. Questions? Learn more about our membership options Free gifts cannot be shipped to locations outside of the United States All members are automatically signed-up to our email newsletter You can unsubscribe with one-click at any time Bonnie McBain received ARC funding for this research University of Newcastle provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU View all partners Since the 1970s, humans have used more resources than the planet can regenerate. This is known as overshoot. The WWF Living Planet Report has reported overshoot every two years since 2000 How can it logically be possible for us to use more resources than Earth can produce There are two basic concepts at work here. One is our ecological footprint which can be very loosely understood as a way of tallying up the resources we use from nature The other is the planet’s ability to provide or renew those resources every year: its “biocapacity” When our ecological footprint exceeds Earth’s biocapacity, that’s unsustainable resource use. Unsustainable resource use can occur for some time. The environmental thinker Donella Meadows used a bathtub analogy to explain how with the tap running and the plug out at the same time It is possible for more water to flow out of the bath than into it for some time without the water in the tub running out This is because the significant store of water in the bath acts like a buffer Because nature has accumulated resources – for example in a forest – it’s possible for us to harvest nature at a greater rate than it can replenish itself for a certain amount of time But this leads to the question: if humanity’s ecological footprint exceeds Earth’s biocapacity, how long can we keep going without crossing a tipping point? Our recent research investigates this question It’s important to make the point that nature provides us with literally everything we need, through processes known as ecosystem services Much of this is obvious because we buy and sell it Forests provide protection from flooding by slowing down surface water runoff while mangroves absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store it despite our rapidly increasing ecological footprint In part this resilience comes from being able to buffer disturbance with the existing store of resources But there’s an important mechanism that helps natural systems adjust – to a certain extent – to disruption and if we take the bathtub analogy one step further we can see how it works Say we set up our bathtub so that the tap and the plughole communicate with one another If more water suddenly starts flowing down the plug then the tap increases the flow of water into the bath to compensate This is an example of a “positive” feedback (more water exiting the bath) being moderated by a “negative” feedback (more water entering from the tap) thus maintaining the state of the system (water in the bath) Clearing trees from a forest might mean that seeds from the soil have the chance to germinate If they germinate before the landscape gets too degraded they can potentially balance out the disturbance But harvesting forest also exposes the ground vegetation might find it more difficult to regrow – resulting in yet more soil loss This is a “positive” feedback – one that reinforces and exacerbates the original problem Negative feedbacks can only adapt to a certain level of disruption Positive feedback loops can then prevail and the ecosystem is likely to cross a tipping point In our research, my colleagues and I compared future ecological footprints with research about planetary boundaries (points at which the risks to humanity of crossing a tipping point become unacceptably high). We found the discrepancy between the ecological footprint and biocapacity is likely to continue until at least 2050 We also found that our global cropping footprint is likely to exceed the planetary boundary for land clearing between 2025 and 2035 This occurs in the context of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations that have already crossed the planetary boundary of 350 ppm. (As I write, the carbon dioxide concentration is over 400 ppm.) we have no idea what happens when two planetary boundaries are approached simultaneously We face the permanent loss of essential natural processes, putting, for example, our global food security at risk Our research shows we need to address gradual as the global resource buffer shrinks and stabilising feedback mechanisms are overwhelmed Ecological footprints decrease in response to human decisions Our current trajectory towards tipping points is not fait accompli at all but can be influenced by the choices we make now As if that wasn’t amazing enough, Lydia Mäthger and Roger Hanlon recently discovered that the common cuttlefish has light-sensitive proteins called opsins all over its skin Even though animal eyes come in a wondrous variety of shapes and structures all of them use opsins of one kind or another The discovery of these proteins in cuttlefish skin suggested that these creatures might be able to sense light over their entire surface which still involve detecting light but have nothing to do with seeing images To work out what exactly opsins are doing in cephalopod skin This triggers a Rube Goldberg-esque chain of further changes in other proteins which culminates in an electrical signal travelling through a nerve towards the brain looking for proteins that act downstream of opsin She found them. Several of them are present in the animals’ skin, and only in the chromatophores—the cells that are primarily responsible for their shifting patterns Each chromatophore is an elastic sac of pigment the sac contracts into a small dot that’s hard to see Kingston showed that these living pixels contain the same Rube Goldberg set-up that exists in their owners’ eyes show that the chromatophores actually respond to light “All the machinery is there for them to be light-sensitive but we can’t prove that The chromatophores might be detecting local light levels to prime them for either expansion or contraction They could communicate with each other so that small clumps of chromatophores react to light as a unit Or they could send signals directly to the brain to provide their owners with more information about light levels in their environment These possibilities could all be right or wrong; no one knows “We don’t know if they contribute to camouflage or are just general light sensors for circadian cycling or are driving hormonal changes They have a job to do but we don’t know what it is,” says Cronin When the duo shone bright light onto isolated patches of skin they found that the chromatophores would dramatically expand They called this light-activated chromatophore expansion Ramirez and Oakley showed that the octopus’s skin also contains opsin its opsins reside in small hair-like structures called cilia People used to think that the octopus used these cilia as organs of touch; they still could be They strengthen the case that these animals really are detecting light with their skins They also serve as useful reminders that cephalopods are a diverse group of very different animals with different branches separated by over 280 million years of evolution It shouldn’t be surprising that octopus skin readily responds to light but squid and cuttlefish skin doesn’t seem to “Cuttlefish and squid do seem to display to each other more than octopuses,” says Cronin “Octopuses do pattern dramatically in response to environmental changes but we don’t know of displays in octopuses designed for other octopuses.” Perhaps each species uses its skin opsins for different tasks Reference: Ramirez & Oakley. 2015. Eye-independent, light-activated chromatophore expansion (LACE) and expression of phototransduction genes in the skin of Octopus bimaculoides. Journal of Experimental Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.110908 Visual phototransduction components in cephalopod chromatophores suggest dermal photoreception. Journal of Experimental Biology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.117945 Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright © 2015-2025 National Geographic Partners a public park fashioned from a dilapidated railway has become one of its top 10 tourist attractions The High Line in New York is a 2.3-kilometre (km) greenway built on an elevated rail line that runs from the meatpacking district through Chelsea and further up into west Manhattan Before the first stretch was opened in 2009 the track lay abandoned for almost three decades it is filled with more than 500 species of plants The High Line now attracts eight million visitors per year It is fitting that a city known for reinvention has transformed a piece of rusting infrastructure into a cherished public space “When the idea first came up [in the 1990s] New York was under mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s administration and he wanted nothing to do with the High Line,” says Asima Jansveld chief program and engagement officer for the High Line “His last action in office was to sign a demolition order for the track.” The project was saved by intense lobbying by a group of determined locals the city would have missed a redevelopment opportunity that has sparked billions of dollars in private investment and revitalised Manhattan’s once-neglected lower west side.  The High Line was not the world’s first repurposing of abandoned rail assets the Promenade Plantée park has sat atop a decommissioned railway since 1994 while Musée d’Orsay has been housed in a former train station along the Seine since the 1980s was built on derelict land purchased from state-owned London and Continental Railways (LCR) But New York’s project brought a new level of visibility to the untapped potential of rail regeneration It has inspired at least 12 similar initiatives across the US an elevated walkway called the ‘Goods Line’ in Sydney and a copycat project in the London borough of Camden which received council approval in January The trend also extends to obsolete land sitting within operating rail corridors with multi-billion dollar examples underway in Madrid The rise of train infrastructure as a hotspot for urban renewal is underpinned by the changing geography of industry railways were often built to serve freight trains transporting goods for local factories As industrial zones moved into the suburbs and beyond stations have been shuttered and large swathes of land surrounding what were once bustling terminals have been left dormant there are more than 30 million square metres of land — around half the size of Manhattan — owned by rail group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) which is no longer needed for railway operations “These railyards are connected to a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” says Giancarlo Tancredi Milan’s deputy mayor for urban regeneration “The industrial world has changed and factories are no longer in urban centres some of the strongest momentum in recovering rail space is in Italy’s business capital the local government and FS Sistemi Urbani the state-owned group’s division charged with realising value from its unused land have teamed up to redevelop seven vacant railyards within or close to the city centre Four of them have already been sold to private investors most recently Scalo di Porta Romana which is being turned into an urban park that will house residential plus the Olympic Village for the winter games in 2026 FS Sistemi Urbani launched the competition to sell two more railyards including Farini which is a 600,000 square metre site in the city centre right next door to Milan’s current regeneration masterpiece “Farini is very important because it is the last area in Milan’s centre that can be regenerated,” says Umberto Lebruto “It is attracting a lot of attention from Italian The winning bidder for the Farini site — which will be redeveloped to include an urban forest residential buildings and a new campus for one of the country’s leading fine art institutes Brera Academy — will be chosen by November These empty plots — in Italy and elsewhere — are catching the attention of developers because they are often on prime real estate Rural-to-urban migration means cities have grown around rail hubs and they now sit in densely populated areas “the people that own some of the most attractive redevelopment opportunities are probably the rail authorities” the UK head of global real estate firm Hines A case in point is the land surrounding Kings Cross station owned by LCR this has been transformed from a dicey nightlife district into a thriving neighbourhood and innovation hub attracting commercial tenants including Google and Meta.  Recouping and upgrading these central areas can help reduce urban sprawl and improve city life “There is a fight for space still going on in almost all urban metropolitan areas in Europe even in the mid-sized cities,” says Jos Tromp head of continental Europe research at US commercial real estate group CBRE While the rise of hybrid work since the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed office vacancies to record levels in some cities he says there are still shortages in most other sectors of real estate we believe the pressure on urban areas will remain,” he explains.  these projects can generate large payoffs by stimulating surrounding investment The High Line cost $276m in public and donor funds to construct and has sparked more than $2bn in private investment in the area according to the New York City Parks department “There is a clear economic impact that the redevelopment of these spaces can create for adjacent property owners,” says Ms Jansveld “The huge amount of value created by the redevelopment of the High Line was really captured by private developers that built alongside it.” is the Underline; a 10-mile stretch of land under an operating elevated metrorail in Miami that is being transformed from vacant terrain into a green belt The Miami-Dade county government forecasts that the $140m project — half of which it is paying for — will generate $9bn in economic benefits for the county over the next 25 years That encompasses everything from tax revenues and pollution control to new jobs and real estate says the Underline played a “major role” in choosing to locate its Grove Central mixed-use development (valued at $350m) adjacent to the project any time the public and private sectors work together to create new public spaces the surrounding areas tend to become more desirable in the eyes of residents and businesses,” he says.  One of the world’s most ambitious rail renewal projects led by public–private collaboration is Madrid Nuevo Norte The redevelopment of 2.3 million square metres of derelict land surrounding Chamartín station in the city’s north is among Europe’s biggest examples of urban regeneration Madrid Nuevo Norte is being developed by Spanish investors BBVA Merlin Properties and Grupo San José in tandem with the city and regional governments but it is tipped to generate €52bn in long-term economic impact for the region and grow the nation’s gross domestic product by 1.3% a new business district to run alongside the adjoining Cuatro Torres Business Area and a 14.5 hectare park to be built over 20 hectares of sunken railway tracks.  Aside from spurring surrounding investment and economic development projects that involve the sale of publicly owned railway land to private investors have an immediate benefit for the railway operators themselves Milan’s railyard projects are a “virtuous cycle” because the proceeds are reinvested to improve rail services Mr Blair sees growing pressure on public bodies owning disused rail spaces to realise value by teaming up with or selling to investors “Train businesses have a shortage of immediate capital to spend on their operations and land supply is now thin on the ground for builders so there is a bit of a marriage there,” adds Nick Parr head of urban regeneration at Knight Frank One of these most recent ‘marriages’ in the UK was the 2019 pact between national train operator Network Rail and The Arch Company which is a joint venture between US asset manager Blackstone and British developer Telereal Trillium The Arch Company paid £1.46bn for a 150-year lease over the bulk of Network Rail’s commercial estate The proceeds were reinvested to improve the national rail service while The Arch Company now manages 5200 properties across the country and claims to be Britain’s biggest landlord for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).  Nearly half its portfolio consists of arches under the railway viaducts in London In a city synonymous with expensive real estate “they tend to be at the affordable end of the rental market” He adds that more than half its arches are priced at £15,000–£50,000 a year The firm has launched a £200m investment drive to renovate 1000 of the dilapidated arches that were part of the portfolio it acquired from Network Rail “We are taking derelict spaces that are blighting an area and bringing them back into productive use — typically by SMEs which tend to employ people locally,” says Mr McWilliam the local impact unfolding from its landmark rail regeneration project is innovation The automaker is restoring the landmark building which was designed by the same architects behind New York’s Grand Central Station to become the centrepiece of its 30-acre innovation campus known as Michigan Central which sits just 12km from the automaker’s global headquarters will provide Ford and its partners with workplaces and testing facilities to prepare the industry for the electric vehicle era it seeks to reverse the automaking city’s economic decline by transforming it into a mobility tech centre Since the campus officially opened in April it has welcomed more than 25 early-stage companies which are collectively backed by more than $500m in venture capital funding.  regeneration projects are connecting communities where rail hubs have created both physical and socioeconomic rifts within cities the main railway station and corridor had separated the bustling central business district from the inner-suburb of Northbridge for more than a century Northbridge was experiencing high crime rates the [rail hub] has long been a barrier in the centre of the city,” says Dean Mudford acting CEO of the government agency DevelopmentWA The state’s biggest development project in decades has removed this barrier by sinking the rail lines and covering them with a new public square and a new university campus set to open in 2026 The government’s A$1.4bn ($950m) initial outlay has sparked more than A$3bn of private investment in the project from the likes of Hong Kong’s Far East Consortium and Australian firms the Underline is improving safety in a county where pedestrian and cyclist fatalities per capita are almost twice the national average “One of the core principles of the project is to have safe walking and biking alternatives,” says Meg Daly the non-profit spearheading the development “With this direct connection to transit via the metrorail it is really one of the only opportunities in Miami to not need a car to get where you need to go.” a key principle when redeveloping these areas is creating more green space in cities At the heart of the sprawling Madrid Nuevo Norte district is a 14.5-hectare park to be built on a series of viaducts that will cover the sunken tracks below the railroads next to the station are an urban canyon that heats up tremendously in summer,” says Adriaan Geuze the Dutch landscape architecture firm leading work on the park It has been designed from an ecological engineering perspective in line with the mayor’s vision for Madrid Nuevo Norte to focus on sustainability The park’s layout aims to “benefit from the direction of the wind which is cooler from the countryside and flows via the rail corridors and to introduce shade as much as possible” This is expected to lower the park’s temperature during summer by four degrees Celsius the requirement that at least 65% of all railyard redevelopments be allocated to green space aims to cool local areas by two degrees Madrid Nuevo Norte is part of a burgeoning subset of regeneration projects being built on top of operating train infrastructure These developments are “fantastically complicated and expensive” due to their interaction with public transport partly because we have a better understanding of our future needs for rail infrastructure and knowing we don’t need as much space as we used to.” West 8 had to micro-engineer how to deliver a park on top of a concrete deck “We’ve been working with engineers to understand where we can build up soil — which is very heavy — as that’s the only way to plant large trees,” says Mr Geuze Hines ran into challenges developing Cannon Place an office building above the busy central railway station of Cannon Street “Very early on in our development programme we had to book slots with Network Rail saying: ‘In a year’s time we need to move this piece of machinery above this railway line,’” recalls Mr Blair “If your programme changed nearer the time and you needed to push things back they couldn’t shut down a railway for a day for you to do something.” A challenge for all projects involving decommissioned or idle rail assets is the long timelines needed for rezoning government approvals and public consultations before the first shovel hits the ground Construction of Madrid Nuevo Norte will begin next year 23 years after the idea was first conceived Mr Lebruto says one of the biggest obstacles is the administrative phase with it taking up to 10 years to get planning permission Another “huge risk” is the prospect of changes in governments during these periods redeveloping these spaces is increasingly popular among real estate investors because much of the low-hanging fruit in cities has been taken “The property development market goes through cycles in recognising where there are opportunities,” says Mr Parr outlets and supermarkets redeveloping carparks Now they are moving into more complicated developments these projects with high construction costs are now becoming viable.” It means that derelict space that runs alongside your train commute could be worth a second look an eyesore whose value has been written off by local officials could just become one of the city’s top-10 tourist attractions.  This article first appeared in the August/September issue of fDi Intelligence Do you want more FDI stories delivered directly to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletters attract investment and stay competitive in the world of foreign and domestic direct investment UN body says years of development have caused ‘irreversible loss’ to historic value of Victorian docks Liverpool has been stripped of its coveted world heritage status after Unesco blamed years of development for an “irreversible loss” to the historic value of its Victorian docks The UN’s heritage body concluded at a meeting in China on Wednesday that the “outstanding universal value” of Liverpool’s waterfront had been destroyed by new buildings including Everton football club’s new £500m stadium The decision is a humiliating blow for the city and gives Liverpool the ignominious distinction of being only the third place to lose the status in nearly 50 years. The other delisted sites were Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe valley in Germany in 2009 Liverpool has enjoyed world heritage status since 2004 – placing it alongside the Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China – as recognition for its role as a major trading power during the British empire and the architectural beauty of its waterfront The waterfront area in Liverpool. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The GuardianThe label gives historic sites access to UN conservation funding and protection under the Geneva conventions in the event of war, as well as featuring in tourist guidebooks across the world. Read moreThe threat of being delisted has hung over Liverpool since 2012 as Unesco warned that development had significantly changed the city’s skyline and was destroying the heritage value of its waterfront The decision was announced by Tian Xuejun, the chair of the Unesco world heritage committee at a virtual conference hosted in China on Wednesday The UN agency said development such as Liverpool Waters a £5.5bn project by Peel Group to transform previously disused land had led to a “serious deterioration and irreversible loss” to the area’s outstanding universal value along with “significant loss to its authenticity and integrity” It said that as a result of these projects the waterfront had “deteriorated to the extent that it has lost characteristics” that led to its inclusion on the world heritage list in 2004 The proposal to build Everton’s new riverside football stadium at Bramley-Moore dock would “add to the ascertained threat of further deterioration and loss” of its historic value The decision was met with dismay by Liverpool city leaders said she was “hugely disappointed and concerned” and that the council would consider lodging an appeal She said it had been a decade since Unesco last visited the city “to see it with their own eyes” and it was “incomprehensible” that Unesco would rather see Bramley-Moore dock as a “derelict wasteland” than as a gleaming new football stadium that would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors She added: “Our world heritage site has never been in better condition having benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm.” the metro mayor of the Liverpool city region said it was a “retrograde step that does not reflect the reality of what is happening on the ground” and was “a decision taken on the other side of the world by people who do not appear to understand the renaissance that has taken place in recent years” He said places such as Liverpool should not be left with a choice between maintaining heritage status or regeneration and bringing in jobs where artists’ studios sit alongside independent bars and cafes Jayne Casey said the announcement felt like a depressing landmark in the city’s otherwise proud cultural history “We’ve been aware for a long time that developers have got a lot of sway in the city The champagne will be flowing tonight for them because every little bit of land will now be built on,” said Casey who was co-creative director of Liverpool’s capital of culture in 2008 and is regarded as one of the city’s most influential cultural figures Casey said those pushing Liverpool to bid for world heritage status had been “laughed out of every building” in the city 20 years ago due to the dereliction and other social issues that had blighted the area for decades The mantle bestowed international prestige on Liverpool but it had also accelerated a development boom that suffocated artistic life in the city “Liverpool’s shifted from being a cultural city to one that’s just life everywhere else,” she said Heritage groups described the move as a moment of shame for the UK and accused the government of not doing enough to protect its historic sites or intervene on Liverpool’s behalf when Unesco threatened to delist it said being stripped of world heritage status was a “national embarrassment” and that Liverpool had been failed by the government’s “devolve and forget” approach to protecting cultural assets The current and visible social discrepancy ecological devastation and global automatism driven by capital allow (new) aesthetic paradigms We are always at the frontier where the self-consistency of artistic practices must be (re)affirmed in relation to specific local and global elements without running away from the looming issues of each time Art must be a place of experimentation for the involvement between people and of the latter with the place; this is the ability to invest resources in regeneration and not so much in production This will only be possible by uniting different disciplines whose visions and ideals are tangible enough to protect us from a destructive alienation leading us into a permanent space of transformation towards our inevitable reinvention and our relationship with place Mafalda Ruão – The intention of addressing the environment and discussing it starts with the festival’s name. Why Ponto d’Orvalho? MR – Being a regenerative, creative, and renewing space, how can the festival broaden awareness, inspiring behaviour and change in Portugal? PdO, Joana Kramer Horta – Today we see successive ecological mutations with planetary impact. In PdO, we want to address the importance of learning new ways of inhabiting the Earth through a transdisciplinary research program to map, thematize, understand, question, and contextualize ecological issues, shared with the public to widen the network of cultural action, and show that artistic practices enable a dialogue between discourses and investigations from natural and social sciences. One of the proposals is the collaboration between biologist António Mira, specialist in landscape ecology and community ecology, and visual artist Gabriela Albergaria, who uses the relationship between human beings and nature as a starting point for her works. We will be led in a collective exercise of landscape recognition to reflect on the impacts caused by humans on biodiversity and ecosystems. To complement the programme, in November 2022, with the support of Montemor-o-Novo City Hall, we will organise a planting action with children and young people from the municipality to encourage ecological awareness and stimulate learning about syntropic farming techniques in agroforestry systems. As Bruno Latour says in the book ‘Down To Earth – Politics in the New Climate Regime’, it’s time to get down to earth, land somewhere and resist this loss of common orientation. We must relearn how to position ourselves in this new landscape that forces us to redefine and reflect on how we exist on the planet. MR – As Portugal is becoming more and more visible abroad, the Portuguese coast is demographically and culturally overcrowded. What are the main reasons to choose the Alentejo region? MR – What is the role of Montemor-o-Novo in the festival programme? Is the project mostly related to the local context or is the city an example or starting point for universal issues? MR – On the eve of the third edition, what’s new this year? MR – There are many entities, people, and knowledge from different areas at Ponto d’Orvalho, all with a common goal. Is the festival for professionals, experts in the different subjects explored, and activists, or can the general public play an active role? PdO, Leonor Carrilho – We are doing a festival for the public and not for cultural professionals or experts. The objectives can vary according to the same “motto”: to think of a more sustainable collective future and look at Nature as the main source, focus and ally in building this future. Listening to a reading under a starry sky, surrounded by this ecosystem, is a different experience to listening to it on the radio, in a gallery or a performance hall. *Alluding to Joana Kramer Horta’s reference to Bruno Latour’s ‘Down To Earth – Politics in the New Climate Regime’ (2017). and with a degree in Photography from the Portuguese Institute of Photography in Porto Mafalda develops her work in the areas of production within the scope of Photography Festivals and Visual Arts - Encontros da Imagem She also collaborated with Porto / Post / Doc: Film & Media Festival and Curtas Vila do Conde-Festival Internacional de Cinema and she was one of those responsible for the curatorial project of the exhibition “AEIOU: Os Espacialistas em Pro (ex)cess” she was involved in laboratory projects of analogue photography and educational programs for Silverlab (Porto) and Passos Audiovisuais Associação Cultural (Braga) while dedicating herself to photography in a professional format or Subscribe to the Newsletter (EN Version)! I accept the Privacy Policy Subscribe Umbigo With 50 million hectares of reforestable land Brazil can make a decisive contribution to efforts to achieve the world’s climate change mitigation targets while earning substantial income from carbon credit trading according to participants in a webinar hosted by BIOTA-FAPESP (photo: Paulo R according to participants in a webinar hosted by BIOTA-FAPESP By José Tadeu Arantes  |  Agência FAPESP – Brazil could become the Saudi Arabia of the new carbon economy Just as Saudi Arabia is now the world’s largest oil exporter contributing significantly to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and global warming Brazil has the potential to lead the emerging market for carbon capture and storage which is fundamental to achieve the climate change mitigation target of temperatures more than 1.5 °C -2.0 °C below the pre-industrial average Brazil has huge reserves of reforestable land amounting to some 50 million hectares all told with the potential for spontaneous or assisted natural regeneration Reforestation is by far the most effective way to capture and store atmospheric carbon Crouzeilles is a professor of graduate studies in ecology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) a researcher affiliated with the International Institute for Sustainability (IIS) and executive director of IIS Australia His presentation focused on the economic potential of environmental solutions especially in the carbon capture and storage market “The voluntary carbon market is set to grow up to fifteenfold by 2030 compared to 2020 Between 7 gigatonnes and 13 gigatonnes of carbon will be sequestered per year by 2050 to offset emissions and achieve the net zero target,” he said Net zero is defined as a point at which any residual emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) are offset by the removal of GHG from the atmosphere the price of captured and stored carbon is still very low but in regulated markets such as the European Union’s a tonne (metric ton) of CO2 is already worth 69 euros (now about 78 USD or 58 GBP) Supply is scarce and quality low,” he said Three criteria are used to assess the quality of stored carbon the risk of re-release into the atmosphere intentionally or involuntarily (e.g. which means the reduction in emissions would not have happened without the reforestation project A project developed in order to produce timber cannot be presented as an addition made possible by financing obtained in the carbon market the risk that deforestation or other activities causing a rise in GHG emissions are displaced to another site by the reforestation project “Brazil offers one of the best opportunities for low-cost reforestation on a large scale with the goal of removing CO2 from the atmosphere,” Crouzeilles said listing four advantages: high carbon capture and storage potential; low-cost reforestation; a large amount of available land; and high potential for assisted natural regeneration Instead of closing their eyes to the obtuse policy of deforestation and natural resource predation Brazilian economic actors should see forest conservation and reconstruction as one of the nation’s greatest assets and potentially one of its most profitable resources the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforests are among the best places in the world for carbon capture and storage especially in the Amazon,” Crouzeilles said he meant the amount of money landowners refrain from making if they use part of their land for reforestation instead of agricultural production In places far away from the agribusiness expansion frontier this type of land use change can be economically advantageous Amazon and others have committed to carbon neutrality (or net zero) by 2050 adding that Microsoft aims not only to achieve net zero but to “erase its entire carbon footprint” The carbon market is highly promising for Brazil but in his view urgent and speedy action is required: 2030 is fast approaching and the goal of lowering global temperatures by 1.5 °C-2.0 °C is still far off Some startups have enough flexibility and agility to occupy this space The second part of the webinar consisted of a virtual round-table discussion among professionals with jobs in the world of ecosystem services: Paulo Groke an institute maintained by pulp and paper maker Suzano; Marcelo Gomes da Silva Pereira forest environment manager at Suzano; Isabel Duarte Coutinho director and researcher at Natcrom Soluções Sustentáveis; and Andresa Berretta Groke spoke about Parque das Neblinas an environmental reserve owned by Suzano and managed by Ecofuturo Comprising 7,000 hectares of Atlantic Rainforest in different stages of recovery the park is home to activities involving forest management and restoration The next speaker was Pereira, who presented Suzano’s climate change mitigation objectives and nature-based solutions The company is the world’s leading producer of eucalyptus pulp and has forests totaling 2.3 million hectares of which 1 million hectares are conserved as native reserves It plans to valorize and monetize this natural asset incorporating ecosystem services into its portfolio Based on the idea of the circular economy in which waste is converted into resources Natcrom produces botanical extracts and phytochemicals from raw materials thrown away by agro-industry specifically using mango production chain rejects to make biopolymers Among the results accumulated by the initiative Beretta cited a 17% average increase in coffee production per hectare during the flowering season A recording of the complete webinar on “Ecosystem Services” (in Portuguese) can be watched at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SOQNcY56C0 You are in: London > Places > Thames Gateway > Lower Lea Regeneration is key to tackling poverty and unemployment that is common in this area The Lower Lea valley area surrounds the River Lea which runs along the boundary of the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham Regeneration is key to tackling poverty and unemployment that is common in the area The Stratford City project is one of the largest projects in the Thames Gateway development and will provide the area with much needed employment opportunities and housing The Lower Lea Valley has been described as ‘the largest remaining regeneration opportunity in inner London’ Much of its land is taken up with derelict industrial land and poor housing the London Underground and heavy rail lines The aim is to create a better place to live to train people living in the area and to provide them with jobs.The plan is to transform the large number of underused canals and waterways into a new ‘water city’ They also want to create an integrated park system that celebrates the Gateway’s natural attributes creating a space for people to relax.On the Olympic Fringe of Hackney Wick there are many sites which will become suitable for high-quality business accommodation forming over 2,000 jobs and 4,500 new homes The LTGDC wants to create a new town centre in Canning Town providing new homes Lea Valley Park is being created to open up 75 hectares of the Lower Lea Valley public spaces that will be created around the water It runs north-south from Stratford to Canary Wharf and is situated just three miles from Central London The transformation of the Lower Lea Valley is underway now in order to get everything completed in time for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Construction of Stratford City will begin in 2007 The Lower Lea Valley is one of the UK’s most deprived areas with a very high level of unemployment and low level of skills Approximately 110 hectares of brownfield land will be reclaimed to produce the Olympic Park is located in the heart of the Lower Lea Valley and the listed tidal mill on Three Mills Island form a high quality setting for new homes The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation The London Development Agency (LDA) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) are committed to the implementation of their detailed regeneration strategy.The local borough councils of Hackney Newham and Waltham Forest are preparing Local Development frameworks and more detailed plans Click the links below for more information on the organisations involved in the Thames Gateway development: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites Canary Wharf is London’s new banking and business district and is set to grow considerably with the Gateway development Employment is set to grow from 82,000 to 120,000 by 2016 The construction of Crossrail should allow the number to grow to 190,000 jobs within 20 years 13,000 homes are expected to be built on the Isle of Dogs with the majority to be completed by 2011 This is one of the largest regeneration projects in the whole of the Thames Gateway development Stratford is set to become the next major office development after Canary Wharf.The next 15 years will see the creation of a new £4bn centre in East London including a new education campus Stratford construction is due to start in 2007 and will create 150,000 sq.m of retail space set to rival Bluewater.It will see 37,200 sq.m of leisure facilities 37,200 sq.m of hotel space and 93,000 sq.m of office space.These developments will create 7,000 – 11,000 homes and 34,000 jobs The first 1,000 homes are set to be completed by 2012 The recently completed Stratford International will provide links to Europe via the Channel Tunnel Located just a few miles from Canary Wharf Canning Town has excellent transport links with the Docklands Light Railway extension to London City Airport now complete The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation is working closely with the London borough of Newham to create a new town centre and improved transport links The development will create 1,500 homes (7,000 in the wider Canning area) and 4,500 jobs It is estimated that by 2012 2,000 homes will be completed locks and mills of Bromley-by-Bow provide a perfect setting for new homes and public areas Development of key sites such as former St Andrew’s hospital site will create around 3,550 homes and at least 500 jobs This new park being created throughout the Olympic Zone will see 75 hectares of inaccessible and unattractive land in Lea Valley transformed The park will connect the Olympic site with the Thames and will provide a public space serving London and the local community With access to excellent transport infrastructure West Ham is to become the southern gateway to the Olympic Park The aim is to create a location that is more than just an interchange by providing 2,750 homes and 1,000 new jobs There are plans to develop the former Royal Mail site into a range of mixed-use developments Planning is underway with 500 homes expected to be delivered by 2012 Well served by the Docklands Light Railway Leaside and Thameside West is ideal for large-scale residential and employment development Over the next few years new business premises and high-rise residential properties will be created Over 9,600 homes and 3,700 jobs will be created through regeneration This is a ten year development with 5,300 homes to be delivered by 2012 last updated: 15/05/2008 at 09:45created: 09/02/2007 Today's schedule Help with BBC iPlayer